Young Person's Welfare Ambassadors (YPWAs)

What is a YPWA?

They are 11-24 years old
They capitalise on user-friendly approaches and resources to promote positive messages and encourage open dialogue
They gather feedback about welfare and other tennis issues and become a voice for young people
They provide an important link between Whitchurch TC Committee and children and young people

We are delighted and proud to share that during 2025 Sara Daniel and Rozi Waters were appointed by the LTA to the role of YPWAs at Whitchurch TC. Sara and Rozi work with Jackie, our Welfare Officer as well as the LTA, to promote key safeguarding and welfare messages. They may speak with you to gather your thoughts and ideas on how to make our club a better place.

“I'm Sara, and I'm excited to be the Young Person's Welfare Ambassador for Whitchurch Tennis Club. I love playing tennis and football. When I'm not on the court or field, I’ll be socialising with my friends. I'm really looking forward to making our club a fun and welcoming place for everyone”

“Sara ydw i, ac rwy'n edrych ymlaen at fod yn Llysgennad Lles Pobl Ifanc ar gyfer Clwb Tenis yr Eglwys Newydd. Rwyf wrth fy modd yn chwarae tenis a phêl-droed. Pan nad ydw i ar y cwrt neu'r cae, byddaf yn cymdeithasu gyda fy ffrindiau. Rwy'n edrych ymlaen at wneud ein clwb yn lle croesawgar a hwyliog i bawb”.

“Hello, I'm Rozi, I'm sixteen and in year 11 of Ysgol Glantaf. I love all sports but my main ones are tennis, netball hockey and I also do ballet. At school I really enjoy art as well as science. My school is Welsh language, so I'm fluent in Welsh. In school I'm doing Duke of Edinburgh Awards, so as a part of that I coach younger kids in school and tutor them. I started playing tennis casually at a young age and really enjoyed it so I went along to summer camps and started proper training. My favourite tennis surface to play on is an indoor surface but I also really enjoy hard court as it's the one I'm most used to”.

Congratulations to Rozi and Sara for successfully completing the YPWA programme. Following a review of their work, the LTA has contacted us to share the following:

“I have personally reviewed Sara and Rozi's work and have been particularly impressed by their engagement across your venue - with members, coaches and the committee. Utilising Spark the mascot is a great idea and I will ensure to feed this back to my colleagues at Tennis Wales.

I am pleased to attach Sara and Rozi's certificates of completion. We genuinely appreciate the hard work and effort Sara and Rozi have made to embrace the YPWA role and thank you for the ongoing support and advocacy you have provided them. I am really pleased to hear you are looking to enrol further YPWAs. We have reviewed the programme and now made it even easier to engage and progress”.

What have we been doing?

Sara and Rozi have:

Created a Junior Notice Board
Delivered a fun-packed Christmas quiz including a safeguarding section
Promoted a user-friendly Code of Conduct with young people and adults
Attended a coaching session to promote the Safe To Play campaign
Presented to Whitchurch TC Committee to provide a voice for young people and to raise awareness of the YPWA role
Created a Junior Induction Pack

Meet Spark

Spark is the Safeguarding Mascot for Tennis Wales, he was designed by a young boy in North Wales. Spark has learnt that it’s good to enjoy competitive tennis whilst understanding that it’s very important that we look out for each other and show kindness, you can find out more about what Spark says by visiting the Kids Hub on the LTA/Tennis Wales website.

Are you interested in becoming a YPWA?

Do you want to: have fun, work with your friends, make new friends, tailor the role to your strengths, be a visible positive role model at Whitchurch TC, gain valuable new skills, add serious value to your CV, UCAS personal statement and DofE award and at the same time support your tennis club to promote young people’s voices whilst helping to make tennis safe and enjoyable. The LTA is so pleased with the work undertaken by Rozi and Sara that they will be sharing some of the above examples as evidence of positive work completed on this programme (fully anonymised, the only identifying information would be the name of our venue).

If you are interested in this opportunity, please speak with Sara and Rozi, they can share their experiences; also speak with Jackie our Welfare Officer who will be able to support you and your parent(s) in completing a short application form.

You can read about the LTA YPWA programme here.

YPWAs are not responsible for dealing with safeguarding concerns, so if you need to speak to someone about this, please contact one of our Welfare Officers or the LTA Safeguarding Team as follows:

Jackie Garland: welfare@whitchurchtenniscardiff.co.uk / 07971 017178
Aled Evans: welfare@whitchurchtenniscardiff.co.uk /07473 893291

You can find all our safeguarding information here.